


Who he needed most

by NohrNoble



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, M/M, Oneshot, Or not, Self-Esteem Issues, Self-Hatred, and pretend they're just good friends, kinda????, you can interpret this as a shipping fic, you can just ignore the small kiss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-31
Updated: 2017-12-31
Packaged: 2019-02-24 13:29:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13214742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NohrNoble/pseuds/NohrNoble
Summary: Things are rough for Leo after the war. After becoming king, and grieving the recent loss of his older brother and younger sister, everything suddenly comes crashing down on him like a rainstorm. But someone is there to offer a metaphorical umbrella.





	Who he needed most

It had been exactly seven months since the war between Hoshido and Nohr had ended. Leo had been appointed king of Nohr, something he had never wished. Not to mention the fact that Xander and Elise were long gone, and Camilla had left the castle because she couldn't stand to be in the same place where her beloved siblings had died. Niles was still present, of course. However, Odin had simply vanished. No one had heard a word from him when he left, so no one knew where to look. It seemed as if everyone had left Leo, and it felt awful. The tapping of his shoes in the cold hallways were the only noise Leo ever heard besides his own voice. Well, there were maids around the castle too. They didn't bother Leo though. And Niles was there, but even he didn't speak much. Leo didn't make him. He knew how much Niles missed Odin.

Leo had grown used to the lonely silence. Unfortunately all of this silence left too much time for Leo to dig through thoughts, and that was never a good thing for him. Well... That was until King Ryoma had insisted on sending someone over to help Leo out a bit. Leo countered that this was silly, and he could take care of a whole kingdom on his own.  
But he honestly couldn't. He was just some idiot boy who had been shoved forward to rebuild a land that was beyond repair.  
Oh, and of course Ryoma had to send over Leo's least favorite Hoshidian. He told himself that Takumi was his least favorite, anyway. But he wasn't quite sure if he was telling himself the truth. They did have a lot in common, and it was nice to have some more company around the castle.

_No. You can't possibly believe that he'd want to be friends with you? He's told you how he feels._

-  
Since Takumi's arrival, the two princes had engaged in many small arguments. It was never really serious, as it was always about the silliest things. Such as Leo winning when they played chess, and that frustrating Takumi. The two of them had taught eachother their favorite games to play, but unfortunately Leo wasn't good at shogi and Takumi wasn't good at chess. They also read books together. And when one of them would have a different opinion on a certain part, the other would start an argument about it.  
The two of them began to find the small dissagreements to be fun when they realized that neither of them meant any harm. They would laugh about it, then continue what they were doing. What a strange way of bonding.

 _Takumi doesn't like you! All you do is annoy him!_  
-  
One of the many other things that would happen between the two, was Takumi noticing that Leo had put his collar on inside out. Takumi would hold back laughter, and Leo would ask why. Upon hearing the answer Leo would always exclaim "DAMN IT!" or "NOT AGAIN!". Takumi always, always, found this to be absolutely hilarious. Leo thought the exact opposite, and would storm away to his room to fix it. He would return shortly, collar fixed, and would only mutter a 'thank you' to Takumi. The Hoshidian prince just smirked at him and chuckled.  
It was the little times like this that Leo felt like a human being, not just a king.

 _He probably thinks of you the way everyone else does: as a coldhearted king. What would make you think that even for one second, Takumi liked you?_  
-  
If Leo wasn't in the library doing political work, he was in the garden. Nohr was... Certainly not known to have fertile land. But Leo's Brynhildr allowed him to grow some things. As a result, the castle's garden was always blooming with life. Leo had managed to grow some healthy trees, tomatoes, and roses. One day while looking for Leo, Takumi had discovered him in the garden. Takumi had never seen the garden. He thought he probably shouldn't waltz around the castle as he pleased, so he refrained from searching the place unless he was looking for his friend. Leo had meant to give Takumi a tour of the place, but he was awfully busy. Takumi was amazed by the life of the garden, and it led to a long explaination and a demonstration from Leo on how he made such a beautiful garden.

 _Takumi probably isn't interested at all. He just pities you, you worthless maggot._  
-  
Being a king was hard. Leo had learned that quickly. It may have sounded childish to say, but Leo was still so young and everything had happened so fast. Of course, the depression of the loss of his siblings, and him being forced to become king, often settled onto him as well. This resutlted in Leo having a lot of days where he had to force himself out of bed. He'd look in the mirror to be met by tired maroon eyes, and a sickly pale face. Leo had noticed how weak he looked. And he realized that a king wasn't supposed to look like this. No... A king was supposed to be trusted! A king was supposed to help his people, and a king was supposed to be strong!  
And he wasn't any of those things.

_So he wasn't a real king, was he?_

Leo didn't even notice that tears had started falling. He reached up to frantically wipe the tears away before anyone discovered him in this worthless state. But luck wasn't on Leo's side. Someone must have heard his pathetic crying, because there was a gentle knock on the door followed by a soft voice calling his name. Leo refused to open it and let someone see how disgusting he was. The tears wouldn't stop falling like every dark thought he had tried to ignore came raining down. The Nohrian prince's breath started to come out in gasps as panic over took him.

_No, this could NOT be happening now._

Leo flinched as he felt a hand touch his shoulder. He whipped around, only to come face to face with Takumi. Concern was painted on the prince's face. Takumi was speaking too, but Leo couldn't hear a thing. He could only hear his own ever quickening heart beat. However, Leo was once again caught off guard as he was gently pulled into a hug by the other prince. Leo froze for a moment. He certainly wasn't used to someone even making an attempt to help him.

_And being the way he was, that somehow added on to the pain._

Leo whimpered and buried his face into Takumi's chest. He let everything loose. He sobbed and screamed about how life wasn't fair, and that he didn't deserve to be a king. Takumi pressed a gentle kiss to the Nohrian's head, and reassured him that everything was going to be okay. And as if Takumi's words were made of magic, Leo felt a layer of the dark thoughts vanish. Leo had never realized how much he needed someone to be there for him. He needed someone who would put real effort into caring about him. He needed someone who was stubborn and would do anything to figure out what was bothering him, so they could fix it. And that someone just happened to be-

_What are you thinking? He hates you! He was probably forced to pretend to be your friend. He doesn't care! He'll never-_

Leo's thoughts were cut off by Takumi's voice. "Leo... I know how often you put yourself down. You don't speak it, but I can see it. You think you don't deserve to be king, and you think I don't care... But you're so wrong." He stopped for a moment, giving Leo a small smile."I care about you more than anything, Leo. When I see how you treat yourself, It... It makes me want to pull you into a hug, and never let go. You don't deserve to suffer."

Leo opened his mouth to retaliate, but Takumi gently shushed him and continued. "And I know you're stressed out about your role as a king. It was incredibly forced upon, but you're doing an amazing job of rebuilding Nohr. Not only are you cooperating perfectly with Hoshido, but the people of Nohr seem to be happier too. Of course, there will always be those jerks who try to bring you down. But they don't matter when there are millions of others who love you, Leo." Takumi finished.

Leo was silent for a moment as he let Takumi wipe away the rest of his tears. "Takumi... I truly don't know what I'd do without you." Leo finally mumbled to the prince as he laid his head against Takumi's chest.

Takumi smiled. "I feel the same way." He told Leo.

There was a blissful moment of silence between the young princes. But it was soon broken by the loud mouthed Hoshidian prince.

"Oh... by the way, Leo..." He started.

Leo looked up. "Hm?"

"Your collar is inside out."

"DAMN IT!"

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first story on here, so um... I hope at least one person enjoys this! :)  
> I tried to read through this as many times as possible to weed out any errors, but I might have missed some. (Hopefully I didn't...) I might as well apologize for the shortness of this as well... So, sorry about that. I'll try to write a longer one next time.
> 
> I have had this sitting around for about two months though, and I just got the energy to fix it up and post it. As I said above, I really really hope this was good enough for you all. <3


End file.
